


Alien Themed Diners, Folksy Waysations and Desert Kisses

by vintagemisery49



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Confessions, Getting Together, Kissing, M/M, Road Trips, a little bit mushy, and some very slight angst, just a whole lot of fluff and pining, which means comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-06
Updated: 2017-04-06
Packaged: 2018-10-15 06:32:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,884
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10551666
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vintagemisery49/pseuds/vintagemisery49
Summary: Lance is traveling home for spring break so he invites his friends without plans to come along to keep him company, and drop them off at their respective stops along the way. So Lance, Allura, Keith and Pidge set off on a cross country adventure full of tacky knickknacks, diners, crappy motels, and a whole lot of pining.





	

“I have a great idea!” Lance yelled as he threw himself onto Keith’s bed, his head dangerously close to almost falling in Keith’s lap and his legs falling over the footboard of the bed.

Keith didn’t even look up from his laptop. “The last time you had a great idea you set half of the bio lab on fire,” his deadpan tone doing nothing to Lance’s mood.

Humming in annoyance Lance chose to ignore that statement and press on. “Aren’t you going to ask me what my great idea is?”

Keith let out a loud sigh before rolling his eyes and looking down at lance from over his laptop. “What would be your great idea?”

“Well you see mullet, spring break starts tomorrow and seeing as you have no plans-“ Lance began before Keith cut him off.

“Oh, no, no, no, I’m not going on some crazy spring break with you to some beach full of other drunken college students, and besides, I do have plans,” Keith said before crossing his arms.

“You didn’t let me finish,” Lance whined at him and when Keith had no response he held up one finger. “First off, I’m not going to the beach, I’m planning on heading to Arizona to visit my family, and second,” he put up another finger, “I know for a fact you’re not doing anything besides maybe going on one of your many alien expeditions or whatever since Shiro told me he’s going home alone.”

Keith wasn’t even silent for a second after Lance finished before he started a list of his own. “First, why would I want to go to Arizona with you, and second, you know I never go home for any holiday, and you know what, third, my alien expeditions are important to me and my research.”

“Of course Keith,” Lance said, trying to pat the other boy’s knee only to end up doing some weird stretch instead. “And you can do all of that in Arizona, you must know that it’s famous for UFO sightings. I’m sure you could even find Area 51 while there.”

“Area 51 is somewhere in Nevada,” Keith said as he shook his head sadly, it wasn’t Lance’s fault he didn’t know every single alien fact known to man, or more accurately, Keith.

“Fine, whatever,” Lance said, “But I’m sure you could find something alien related to do, there’s a cool alien themed diner we could stop at on the way down. I’m sure you’d love it.”

“Uh huh,” Keith said, his eyes getting that shiny look in them like whenever he heard something he found at least vaguely interesting. “And who else is coming, because last I checked you can barely fit four people in that car of yours.”

Lance let out a gasp as he sat up to fully face Keith. “Blue is not just some car!!” Lance squawked, waving his hands around. “She’s my baby!”

“Yes, yes, I know,” Keith said, turning his gaze back to his computer screen. “So who else is going?”

“Well obviously not Shiro since he’s visiting his brother,” Lance said as he began to count their friends off on his fingers. “Hunk isn’t able to go since he’s also going back home and is taking Shay with him to officially meet the family, and honestly I would choose to go see Hunk’s mom over going on some road trip anyway since she can make some mean-“

“Lance focus,” Keith said, as he began to type away again, what the hell was Keith even working on? “Once you start talking about home cooked food you get that far off look in your eyes and start craving paella or some other meal your mom makes.”

“Well sorry not all of us are fine living off ramen Keith, humans do need sustenance, but how could I forget, you’re an alien that lives off high sodium food products,” Lance said, shaking his head that in the past three years of their friendship he had never been able to convince Keith that real food was better to eat than processed.

“Well not all of us have time to make real food,” Keith said, stopping his typing and giving his attention to Lance again.

“Yeah, anyway, Allura agreed to come along, said her uncle lives in Arizona and wouldn’t mind a ride. Oh, and Pidge. Apparently there’s some alien convention going on in New Mexico and wants me to drop her off there. So yeah so far it’s the three of us but I’m sure you won’t say no,” Lance said, doing his best to give Keith the most pleading eyes he had. As much as he loved the girls, he wouldn’t mind in the slightest if Keith tagged along, well more like he’d be over the moon if Keith tagged along so he would have more time with his long time crush.

Keith seemed to think for a few seconds before nodding his head. “Sure, why not. I wouldn’t mind going to that alien convention with Pidge. Seems like it would be a fun time.”

"Just as fun as going on a cross country road trip with me, right?” Lance said pointing a thumb at himself with a toothy grin across his face, he knew the answer but it didn’t help that he craved constant attention or at least acknowledgement from Keith.

“Hmmm,” Keith said, tapping his chin. “At least in my top five list of things to do if I have nothing else planned.”

“Aww Keith come on, admit it, you like spending time with me,” Lance teased, and swore for a minute that Keith’s cheeks had turned a faint red only for it to disappear a second later. Must’ve been a trick of the light or something.

“Whatever Lance,” Keith said before going back to typing.

“See you tomorrow morning at eight by Blue?” Lance asked, forcing himself to get off Keith’s bed before he became too comfortable on it.

“See you tomorrow Lance,” Keith said, looking up for a second to give Lance a small nod. Once Lance had left the room he let himself do a little dance, because if those cheesy romance movies had taught him anything it was that this was the perfect opportunity to make a move.  
~~~~

Lance was leaning against Blue as he waited for Keith to show up. Allura and Pidge had already put all their bags in the trunk and were currently arguing over who would ride shot gun.

“Since I’m the oldest I should be the one who gets to ride in the front,” Allura said.

“Don’t even bother Allura, you’ve forgotten that in Lance’s car there’s a list for who gets shot gun. Hunk always gets shot gun, and after him is Keith, than me and so on,” Pidge said right back.

“Oh I’m sure Lance has a cute girl rule,” Allura said, placing her hand on her chest.

“Yeah probably, but you also forgot who else is coming on this trip.”

“Oh, right,” Allura said letting out a loud sigh. “I forgot that we’re going to be crushed by pining the size of Jupiter during this trip.”

“Hey,” Lance said, whipping around. “Don’t forget whose the guy driving you!”

“Whatever,” Pidge said, rolling her eyes before pulling out her phone. “How much longer until Keith gets here? This trip is almost forty hours in a straight trip, adding in the stops it’ll probably take us three days to get there and I need to get to the convention on time. The first day is going to have speakers that claim to be abducted.”

“Hey, you should get Keith to speak about what life is like as an alien on Earth,” Lance said, only to be hit on the shoulder seconds later.

“Ha,ha,ha, real funny Lance,” Keith said, his voice the usual Keith monotone. Lance hadn’t even heard the guy come up next to him.

“Woah Keith, you came out of nowhere,” Lance said as he watched Keith throw is back into the back of the car and automatically headed to the passenger’s seat.

“Well apparently you couldn’t hear me over your own voice,” Keith said, opening the door.

“It’s not my fault that my voice is melodic,” Lance said, getting off the hood of his car.

“More like loud,” Keith joked.

Before Lance could make his comeback Pidge started yelling at the two of them. “Come on, chop, chop, chop! The alien convention is going to start whether I’m there or not and I plan on being there so let’s get a move on.”

“Okay, geez, hold your pants on,” Lance said as he got into the driver’s seat.

“Don’t worry Lance we have a forty plus hour trip ahead of us, I’m sure you’ll find plenty of time to talk to Keith,” Allura said, reaching across from the backseat to pat him on the shoulder.

“Oh but I would much rather talk to you princess, “Lance said, sending her a grin from the rear view mirror as he left the parking lot.

“Nope sorry, I plan to listen to my lectures,” Allura said as she put in her earbuds.

“Your lectures?”

“Yes, I must keep in top shape to keep my standings in all my classes.”

“Okay then, looks like I will be talking to you Keith, and you too Pidgeon.”

“Lance, we may be in a moving car but I won’t hesitate to strangle you from the backseat,” Pidge said, not even looking up from her phone.

“Geez okay Pidge, I’d think you want to make to your convention in one piece,” Lance said before Keith cut in.

“Lance, focus on the road if we all want to make it there in one piece.”

“Hardy, har, har Keith, that’s rich coming from you,” Lance said sparing the boy a glance out of the corner of his eye.

“Watch out for that tree,” Pidge said as Lance swerved back over into his lane.  
~~~~

“Are we there yet?” Pidge yelled from the back.

“For the fifth time Pidge, no,” Lance sighed as his grip tightened on the wheel. “We are literally only thirty minutes into our trip; we’re not even out of state.”

“Hey, every road trip has the one annoying kid who asks every four minutes if we’re there yet, I have humbly decided to take this role,” Pidge said, as she pressed her feet into the back of Lance’s seat, apparently she was taking her role to heart.

“What does that make me then?” Lance asked. “Your dad?”

“Yeah I guess,” Pidge said as she went back to playing on her DS.

"So that makes Allura my beautiful wife, right?”

“Nope, Allura is the big sister.”

“Then what am I?” Keith asked, turning around in his seat to look at her.

“You’re also my dad,” Pidge said without looking up and before Keith or Lance could ask anything she said, “You guys are our gay dads who have decided that our family needed bonding time in a cross country road trip where either Allura or me will discover something about myself.”

Lance honestly had nothing to say back since he was too busy staring at the road and trying to keep his face as normal as possible while deep down inside he was panicking at the idea of not only him and Keith being married, but also having kids. Lance was kinda a lost cause at this point when it came to Keith.

“Well,” Keith said before taking a long pause, “You certainly have a creative imagination.”

“That creative writing class really payed off freshman year,” Pidge replied back before the car went quiet again for a few minutes.

“Are we there yet?”

Lance had to resist the urge to scream and crash the car into the ditch.  
~~~~

“Ha, I saw Hawaii,” Pidge cried as she crossed it off of her paper. After about two hours of annoying the hell out of Lance she had decided to turn her attention to finding all of the fifty states license plates. Keith had eventually joined in as well.

“Huh, where?” Keith asked whipping his head around to find the license plate.

“That blue SUV,” Pidge said as she chewed on the end of her pen. “Hey, have you guys ever thought about how people in Hawaii get their cars over her?”

“Pidge , you have a 4.0 GPA, I think you can figure it out,” Lance said, “It’s not like they drive across the water.”

“Okay but what if-what if they had, like a secret bridge that we don’t know about,” Keith said, getting that far off look in his eye whenever he started thinking of conspiracy theories or anything of the sort. He actually looked pretty cute when he got like that, but Lance honestly thought Keith looked cute about one hundred percent of the time.

“Keith, don’t encourage her,” Lance said before looking over at the car passing him and saw the license plate. “Hey look, it’s Alaska.”

“What really?!” Pidge yelled, waking Allura up from the nap she had been taking.

“Where?” Keith said at the same time.

“What the quiznak are you all doing?” Allura grumbled as she rubbed her eyes.

“Shhh, just go back to sleep” Pidge said.

“Looking for license plates,” Keith said at the same time. “Winner gets to pick where we eat.”

“Hey,” Lance said, he didn’t remember that rule. “I don’t remember you saying that.”

“Well we asked you if you want to play and you said, and I quote, why would I want to play some silly game, I need to pay full attention to the road,” Pidge said, practically plastering her face to the window to find the Alaska plate, Lance had already noticed that Keith had crossed his out a few seconds ago with a satisfied smirk.

“Ugh fine, Keith make me a card I’m playing now,” Lance said before adding, “And make sure you cross off Alaska and Massachusetts, I’ve definitely seen those two.”

“Ohh, me as well,” Allura said, sticking her head into the front of the car. “This seems like a fun game.”

“I’m sure by the end of the game we’re going to have something broken or on fire,” Lance mumbled. Allura was his friend but she could get kinda…competitive.

“Oh hush Lance, it’s just a silly game,” Allura said, waving her hand at him.  
~~~~

That silly game ended with two hours of complete silence other that the radio, a few ripped pieces of paper and more than a few hurt feelings. Allura didn’t win.  
~~~~

Lance pulled into a deserted rest just five miles into Ohio. The minute the car stopped Pidge jumped out of the car like her life depended on it and made it a beeline to the bathrooms.

“Thank god you stopped,” Allura said as she got out as well. “I’m sure she was about to pee her pants.”

“We went to the bathroom at lunch, she should’ve gone then,” Lance said with a shrug.

“That was when we first got into Pennsylvania,” Keith said.

“So, I’ve lasted longer without stopping,” Lance said as they walked into the little rest stop building that advertised having food, only to be met with a completely deserted area with a rack of brochures and a few vending machines.

“Lance,” Keith said as he slid up next to Lance, “Are you sure this place isn’t like abandoned or anything.”

“I don’t know,” Lance said with a shrug. “I mean, the lights work, so….”

“Thank god, I thought I was going to explode,” Pidge said, bursting out of the bathroom.

“Cool update Pidge,” Lance said, shaking his head at the image that was forming in his mind. “Okay everyone, let’s use the facilities and get a move on. I plan to be in Illinois by tonight.”

“I thought this was supposed to be a road trip,” Keith as he followed Lance into the bathroom. “Aren’t we supposed to be stopping a kooky places or something.”

“Oh please. Like, the first six states we’re going to pass through have nothing. No, it doesn’t start getting kooky until we hit the middle of America,” Lance said wiggling his eyebrows.

“Whatever man, I’m just waiting for that UFO themed diner.”  
~~~~

“Okay guys, who’s ready to stay at a shady motel?!” Lance sad as they pulled into a motel with a blinking neon sign with half the letters burned out, but it did say they had vacancy so they couldn’t really argue.

“Oh yeah,” Pidge said as she jumped out the car and headed to the back to grab her bag. “Nothing like a good ol’ creepy motel that just screams possible death by an axe murderer.” The skip in Pidge’s step was a little unsettling, but at least she was happy, Allura on the other hand…

“Lance, if I’m killed by an axe murderer I’m going to kill you,” Allura grumbled as she pulled her bag out of the trunk.

“But you’re going to be dead,” Lance pointed out.

"I’m going to kill you as a ghost obviously,” Allura said.

“Obviously,” Keith echoed as he walked up behind Lance.

“Okay you weirdos, let’s go get some rooms.”  
~~~~

They ended up next to each other but Lance swears that Keith and he ended up with the creepier room.

“I swear I feel like someone’s watching us in here” Lance said as he threw his bag on the bed.

“Maybe the owner has a camera in here to catch sex stuff,” Keith said as he nonchalantly just walked into the bathroom leaving Lance to glance around the room nervously.

“At least he won’t be getting any content tonight, huh?” Lance said, laughing weakly at his own joke.

Keith stuck his head out of the bathroom with a blank look on his face. “Don’t be weird Lance.”

“You started it!” Lance cried back at him as Keith’s face split into a blinding grin as he began to laugh.

Lance flopped down onto his bed and just stared at the ceiling as he listened to Keith’s laughter. God why was this boy too much for Lance. “Don’t take too long in the bathroom, you hear me mullet? I know you only take a shower once a week based on how greasy your hair is.”

“Sorry Lance, not all of us can keep up with the demands of a moisturizing schedule,” Keith said.

“Only those with great determination can keep their skin as beautiful as mine.”

“Of course Lance.”

“And you better not use up all the hot water.”

“Losers weepers,” Keith sang from the bathroom before locking the door before Lance could come in and shove him out.  
~~~~

Keith ended up not using all the hot water like a barbarian. After Lance had taken his shower in the cramped little bathroom, that honestly didn’t scream mildew too much, he fell back onto his bed and watched as Keith flipped mindlessly through the channels before he stopped at the history channel.

“Keith no, we are not going to watch any weird alien conspiracies tonight. Let’s watch some normal shows,” Lance whined as he saw a picture of alien spaceships by the pyramids show up on the screen.

“Does that mean we can watch them tomorrow night?” Keith asked.

“Yeah, yeah, sure. Just let me watch a normal show tonight,” Lance said as Keith tossed the remote over to him.

They were into their second episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and it looked like Keith was enjoying it when he suddenly shot up in his bed and turned on the light.

“What the hell Keith,” Lance said as she shielded his eyes away from the burning light as Keith dug through his bag.

By the time Lance’s eyes had adjusted to the light Keith was standing by his head a clenched fist at his side.

“Umm, everything okay bud?” Lance asked as he looked down at Keith’s hand.

“I,um,” Keith said, fidgeting slightly, “I have something for you that-I, um, found…” Keith tapered off before holding up his fist to Lance and opening it to reveal a small, smooth stone that looked to be some kind of blue color.

“Oh man, thanks Keith,” Lance said, hoping the partially lit room was hiding the red creeping onto his cheeks. 

Keith dropped the stone into Lance’s hand and mumbled, “I saw it at the rest stop and I thought of you.”

“Really?” Lance asked, feeling his heart flutter.

“Um yeah, your favorite color is blue and I know you like to collect things so I um, yeah, just thought of you,” Keith said, fumbling over his words occasionally, and unbeknownst to   
Lance, also happy for the little light in the room.

“Really, thanks Keith,” Lance said as he put it on the nightstand. “I really do like it.”

“Cool,” Keith said, a wide smiling crossing his face that set Lance’s heart racing. “Cool.”  
~~~~

“Oh my god,” Pidge groaned from the backseat. “I’ve been looking at corn for hours! There’s no way this country needs this much corn! Who’s going to eat it all?!”

“We’ve only been on the road for two hours, we’re not even out of Missouri,” Lance said before adding, “And it hasn’t been that much corn.”

“It’s been enough that I never want to eat it again,” Pidge said before propping her feet on the middle console and taking out her DS.

“Do you think we’ve seen that much corn Keith?” Lance asked, looking over at his friend who currently had their nose stuck in what looked like some kind of book about aliens.

“Eh, I’ve seen more,” Keith said with a shrug.

“See Pidge, you’re the only one with something to say about the corn,” Lance said, looking back at her in the rear view mirror.

Pidge stuck her tongue out at him.

“I swear,” Lance said with a huff. “I think Allura is the only decent passenger.”

“Lance, just yesterday she ripped up my paper because I won the license plate game,” Keith said, looking up from his book just to give Lance a pointed look.

“At least she’s either asleep or listening to her lectures or whatever half the time!”

“Are you all talking about me?” Allura asked, taking out an earbud.

“What n-“

“Yes,” Pidge said without hesitation.

“Well if we’re going to gossip I want to get in on it,” Allura said, taking her other earbud out and placing her chin on her hands.

“Allura we weren’t gossiping-“ Lance began before Pidge cut him off again.

“So guys, let’s talk about our crushes!”

“What, Pidge no, that’s no fair! You’re aromantic, you don’t have a crush on anyone!” Lance pleaded, sending her a look that he hoped told her that if she went through he would crash this car.

“I’m in a dedicated relationship with science,” Pidge said before turning to Allura. “You’re turn.”

“Oh, um well, I guess Nyma is kinda cute,” Allura said with a shrug, “But this one girl who works at the coffee shop is also really pretty. So um, I guess it’s a solid tie between those two. I hope that doesn’t make you feel awkward, Lance.”

“I don’t care about Nyma or her love life,” Lance said with a laugh, “That train left the station a long time ago, and I don’t plan on it coming back.”

“What about you Keith?” Pidge asked, doing her best to look innocent unlike the little gremlin she was, and honestly she had no business messing around with Keith’s and his relationship. She had only figured out a month ago that he even had a crush on Keith, and it was only because Hunk told her.

“I don’t know,” Keith mumbled as he stared a hole into his book. “I might like a guy in one of my classes. I don’t know.”

“Keith,” Pidge whined, “You’re no fun.” Keith shrugged at this accusation but continued to stare at his book.

“Lance, your turn,” Allura said, apparently joining in on the let’s embarrass Lance party.

“Ha, you know me, a new crush every week,” Lance said in what he hoped sounded like an honest chuckle. What did they expect, him to just come on out and be like “I have a massive crush the size of the universe on Keith?” No way in hell, besides he just found out that Keith apparently had a crush on some guy in his class. Of course, he and Keith didn’t share one class and he felt a tight knot beginning form in his chest.

“Okay, has anyone heard the rumors about Professor Slav and how apparently Shiro blew up on him last week?” Allura asked. 

Lance could only half-heartedly listen to the rest of the conversation.  
~~~~

The first thing Lance really noticed when they first entered Oklahoma was some random gas station with weird metal sculptures, and that was only because Pidge practically threw herself in the front of the car demanding Lance stop the car.

“We’re supposed to be on a road trip,” Pidge said as Lance pulled up next to the gas tank. He had needed to fill up anyway. “We need to stop and look at weird things. I don’t think I can take another day of straight on driving!”

“Okay, okay, sheesh,” Lance said as he got out of the car. “Go have fun looking at your weird metal sculptures.”

“They’re dinosaurs Lance,” Pidge said, her face serious as she stared him down.

“Go take plenty of pictures,” Lance said, waving after Allura and Pidge as they ran towards the dinosaurs.

Keith however stayed behind and leaned against the back of Blue while Lance filled up.

“Umm mullet, I know you’re not about to pass up an opportunity to take some pictures with giant metal dinosaurs,” Lance said as he watched Keith.

“Yeah, but I know you wouldn’t want to pass it up either so I’m waiting with you,” Keith said, tapping his boots against the pavement.

“Oh, okay,” Lance said before turning to look back at the gallons of gas increase on the board.

“Hey, um Lance,” Keith said, breaking Lance out of his number trance.

“Oh, uh, yeah mullet?” Lance said, turning back to Keith.

“I, uh, just wanted to tell you that I lied,” Keith said, averting his eyes to the ground.

“You lied about what?” Lance asked as the gas pump cut off.

“About having a crush on someone in my class, I only said that to get Allura and Pidge off my back. You know how they can be about that sort of thing, or more like how Allura can get,” Keith said, looking at Lance for a brief second before looking back down at the ground. Lance felt a wave of relief wash over him, the ever tightening knot in his stomach went away and he felt like he could breathe again.

“Hey no problem, I, uh, also lied to them,” Lance said as he paid for the gas.

“Really?” Keith said, turning his full attention to Lance.

“Uh, yeah, if I like someone I’m not going to stop after one week,” Lance said as he began to wiggle his fingers.

“Oh, cool,” Keith said before grabbing Lance’s hand, the poor boy had to hold back a surprise yelp when the unanticipated contact happened. “Come on, let’s go take some picture.”

“Okay, lead the way,” Lance said as Keith pulled him over to the metal sculptures which upon closer inspection did look a bunch of different dinosaurs, and honestly, they looked pretty cool.

As he waited in the car for Pidge and Keith to come back with snacks he couldn’t help but stare at the picture of Keith and him in front of the one shaped like a T-Rex. Lance had his arm thrown casually around Keith’s shoulders, and the two of them looked happy, Keith looked practically radiant.

“Come on lover boy,” Allura said, breaking Lance out of his dream land. “They’re about to get in the car.”  
~~~~

They were somewhere in Oklahoma when it began to storm like crazy. The few minutes before the storm had been beautiful. The clouds had seemed coming together in wispy lines that painted the sky and the sky had begun to change into vibrant pinks and purples, the sun seemed to be turning golden and outline the clouds making them looked gold lined rather than silver. Then seconds later the sky opened up and the rain just came thundering down. 

Lance had tried driving in it only to eventually give up when he couldn’t tell if he was in his lane anymore. He had pulled off to the side of the road and waited for it to stop.

“It looks crazy out there,” Pidge commented as she watched the big rain drops roll down the windows of the car. “How long do you think we’re going to be stuck here?”

“I don’t know,” Lance said with a shrug as he watched Keith stare out the window in amazement. “Either for a while or not much longer. These storms will either have a short life or a long one. But we’re getting into Texas tonight.”

“Ooh Texas,” Allura said before looking at Keith. “Isn’t that where you live Keith?”

Keith shrugged his shoulders. “It’s where I grew up, wouldn’t exactly call it anything much then a place I had to stay for a few years.”

“Are we going to be driving near your old house than?” Allura asked, she must not have heard Keith’s utter disdain in his voice.

“Nah, my dad lives closer to the boarder, besides I wouldn’t want to see him anyway,” Keith said, keeping his focus on the weather outside.

“Oh,” Allura said, she must’ve finally realized how touchy Keith got when the subject of his father came up.

“So Keith,” Lance said hoping to change the subject, “What else do you want to see on this trip before you arrive at the convention?”

“Hmm,” Keith said, pausing for a minute to think. “I want to go to that UFO diner.”

“Okay you got it, one stop and the UFO diner, and how about you Allura?” Lance said turning back to look at the girls in the back.

“Hmmm,” Allura said, tapping her chin before he face broke into a grin. “I want to find some nice postcards to give to my uncle, he loves collecting those kinds of things.”

“Cool, what about you Pidge?” 

“Well,” Pidge said, crossing her arms. “I’m already going to the convention which pretty much is all I want, but I wouldn’t mind stopping at some kind of tourist trap or some folksy waystation that sells weird things.”

“Got, so it looks like we’re also due for a stop at a waystation, a UFO diner and a hunt for some postcards. Looks like we have our adventure set out for us,” Lance said with a small smile as the storm began to break and blue sky began to peek back out.

“Okay guys, time to roll.”  
~~~~

“Okay Pidge,” Lance said as he pulled into a gravel lane. “It’s your stop.”

“What, seriously?” Pidge said, poking her head out from the blanket she had buried herself in.

“Yep, Johnny Joe’s Roadside Gift Shop,” Lance said as they stopped in front a small rickety building that looked like it was being held together by a string. The windows were covered with tons of different posters ranging in age, and a barrel filled with sticks sat bay the door with a handwritten sign that read “Walking Sticks $10.”

“This doesn’t look too touristy trappy,” Pidge said as she looked around.

“But it looks folksy,” Lance said. “I’m sure it will be full of tacky knickknacks for you to buy Pidge.”

“Point taken,” Pidge said, pushing the door open and a tinkling bell sounded their arrival.

“Well hello there strangers,” drawled a voice with a thick country accent. A woman with long graying hair appeared out from behind a shelf, a lazy smile on her face. “If ya find anything ya like just call me and I’ll ring ya up.”

“Thank you Miss,” Allura replied with a small wave.

“Okay guys, let’s see who can find the tackiest thing,” Lance said, Pidge and Keith gave him a sharp nod before they went their separate ways, Allura was more interested in looking at the spinning rack filled with postcards, 3 for $5.

As Lance weaved his way between the different shelves filled with candy, fake gems, rock sculptures, stuffed animals, dream catchers, shirts with wolves and eagles on them, and an assortment of different statues. Lance wasn’t sure what was the tackiest thing he had seen yet, but he was sure it was either the statue of a cowboy on a bucking bull or the shirt with a bunch of wolves and the moon on it.

As he was looking at the prices of the items, either outrageous or extremely cheap, he noticed a little plate sitting on the counter by the register with fudge sitting on it, and Lance had never been on to resist the charm of fudge. Picking up the cowboy statue, that for some reason seemed to scream Keith, he walked over to the counter and looked at the fudge, and before he could say anything the woman was at the register.

"What can I do ya for?” she asked, that same lazy smile on her face.

“Oh, this statue,” Lance said setting it down on the counter before pointing at the fudge, “And two of the fudge please.”

“That’ll be $14.50, dear,” the woman said as she held out her hand for the money.

Lance dug through his pockets and pulled out a ten and a five. “Keep the change.” Lance picked up the bag that held his trinkets and went to the corner by Allura to eat his fudge while he waited for the others to finish up.

“Look what I found,” Pidge said, sliding up beside him. She held up a shirt that read “Rocks are Sedimentary to Me!” with an area of what looked like rocks around the bright red words. “I’m definitely giving this to Matt for his birthday.”

“What about you Keith?” Lance asked when he noticed the other boy walking over to them with a paper bag.

“Oh, just a weird knickknack,” Keith said pulling out a sculpture of what looked to be made of wood of what looked like to a wolf. The weird thing about it was that it was painted to look like the night sky, a mirage of dark blues, blacks and whites.

“Cool, cool,” Lance said with a nod before Pidge showed Keith her find.

Allura eventually met up with them holding a small stack of postcards. “Look at all these funny postcards!” Fanning them out to show them she added, “The rabbit one is my favorite.”

Allura had picked up about four postcards. One was quite odd, it showed a cowboy on a rabbit and read “Cattle Ranching on a Jack Rabbit” and Lance was pretty sure that most Texas thing he had ever seen in his life. Another read “What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Stronger (Except for Bears, Bears Will Kill You)” which was adorned with a lovely picture of a bear chasing people. Another had a picture of a pig jumping into a pool that simply read “Pringle, Texas” and the final one had a picture of woman surrounded by a ton of guns that just had “Texas” on it.

“Man, those are some weird postcards Allura,” Keith said as he looked at her selection with a furrowed brow.

“Yes, well, my uncle has an interesting humor so I’m sure he’ll love them,” Allura said, clutching them to her chest. “Are we ready to go?”

“Did everyone get their share of tacky tourist things?”

“I don’t know, I didn’t finish looking at all the different wolf shirts…”

“Come on Keith, one less wolf shirt won’t hurt you,” Lance said as he grabbed the others arm and lead him out.  
~~~~

“Looks like this place is going to be our humble dwellings for tonight,” Lance said as he unlocked the door to Keith and his room at the second motel they would be staying in during their trip.

Throwing open the door revealed a nautical theme which couldn’t help but make Lance wonder how close the nearest body of water was considering when he thought of Texas he though of desert and ranches.

“So Keith,” Lance began in hopes of distracting him so the he could get into the bathroom first this time, “You excited to eat at that UFO restaurant tomorrow.”

Keith hummed in response as he threw his bag onto the floor. “Considering it was one of the biggest draws of this trip, I would say yes.”

“Let me tell you, they have the best burgers there, like, I don’t know how they do it, but literally, I’ve never had a better burger in my life than from there,” Lance said as he inched towards the bathroom.

“Lance, you know you can use the bathroom first right? As you would say, I’ve already taken my shower for the week,” Keith said, looking over at him with a smirk.

“You’re the best Keith,” Lance said before running into the bathroom.

“Can I get that in writing?” Keith called after him.

As hot water poured down Lance’s back, he swears he hears a phone ringing.  
~~~~

When Lance came out of the bathroom Keith wasn’t in the room.

Throwing himself onto the bed he took the opportunity to claim the remote before Keith came back. He was going to keep up with his shows.

He was only slightly beginning to worry about Keith when the door to the room flung open and closed with a loud thump just as quick as it had been opened.

Lance looked over to see Keith standing by the door, his fists balled up and his mouth in a tight line.

“Hey mullet,” Lance said, sitting up, “Everything okay? You looked pretty steamed.”

“Don’t worry about it Lance,” Keith grumbled as he stalked off towards the bathroom.

“You sure Keith?” Lance asked, following Keith as he moved. “Because you seem pretty pissed off.”

“I shouldn’t even be bothered by it!” Keith yelled, throwing the clothes he had in his hand to the ground.

Lance waited a few seconds before asking, “And what shouldn’t you be bothered by?”

Keith just stood in the door way to the bathroom, deep breathes rattling his body as he tried to calm down. He took a few steps back until he was facing Lance. “My dad’s getting married.”

“Oh, um,” Lance said, slightly taken back by this announcement since normally marriage wasn’t a cause for such…anger, if that was really what Keith was feeling. “That’s terrible?”

“No, it’s not terrible that he’s getting married,” Keith said, running his fingers through his hair in frustration and temporarily distracting Lance. “I mean, apparently he’s marrying some woman who’s been married before and already has a child, so yeah, I guess that means he gets a re-do family or shit since the first one he had was a flaming shit show.” Keith was shaking now.

“Hey, hey,” Lance said, getting off the bed and scurrying over to Keith, placing his hands on Keith’s arms he did his best to soothe him. “I know you and your dad don’t get along, but he still cares about you.”

“Oh yeah right,” Keith spit as angry tears welled in his eyes. “That’s why he’s always so happy when I tell him I won’t be coming home. Why he never bothers to call me even though I haven’t been at that house in three years! Please, I’m sure he’s glad he gets a new wife and a new daughter to replace the AWOL mother of his angry kid!”

“Keith,” Lance said, his voice soft as he rubbed his hands up and down the other boy’s arms. “That’s not true.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Keith said, sniffing, “I’m sure his fiancée and her daughter are just wonderful.”

“Keith-I was talking more about-“

“I know,” Keith said, resting his head against Lance’s shoulder. “It’s just-it’s so hard to believe it. I had to hear the news from Shiro. Not even from him, but his fucking brother,” Keith spit as Lance wrapped his arms around Keith. “That’s the only thing I’m so goddamn pissed about; he couldn’t even bother to call me himself.”

“I’m sorry Keith,” Lance said, rubbing circles against the other boy’s back. “I’m sorry.”   
~~~~

Lance couldn’t help but feel he had brought Keith to the wrong place considering that less than twelve hours ago he had a bit of a breakdown. Well, it wasn’t a breakdown, more like a very angry cry. Yeah, that sounded about right to Lance. But that was off topic. The little diner on the outside of the tiny town they had stayed in that night was just downright depressing. Everything about it just screamed sad and dreary. From the boring decor, the sad menu, the fact that they were the only customers in there and all the waitresses looked like they hated every second working there. 

Lance had hoped to cheer up Keith after last night’s incident but it looked like it wasn’t going to happen.

“So Keith,” Lance said, sliding so he was sitting close enough to the other boy to look over his shoulder at the menu, “What’cha getting?”

Keith looked at Lance from the corner of his eye as he answered. “I don’t know, eggs maybe.”

“Oh come on mullet,” Lance said, leaning back in his seat over dramatically. “Get yourself something nice, spontaneous, un-Keith like.”

Keith stared at Lance blankly before raising his eyebrows in confusion and with uncertainty in his voice said, “Umm, I could get waffles I guess.”

Groaning, Lance buried his head in his hands and just muttered, “Think a little bigger.”

“I don’t get it,” Keith said as he stared between Lance and the menu.

Pidge sighed. “Lance wants you to pick something spontaneous, pick something on that menu that you would never in a million years, like I don’t know, biscuits and gravy for breakfast.”

“What do you mean, biscuits and gravy isn’t crazy in the least for breakfast,” Keith said, looking even more confused.

“Umm, what I think Pidge meant-” Allura said, butting in since Lance had somewhat informed the two of them what had happened to Keith and his plan to try and cheer him up, “-was to eat something like pie or some crazy big breakfast platter that you could never eat in one sitting but do anyway.”

“Oh,” Keith said before turning back to Lance. “Why didn’t you just say that in the first place?”

“Because I forget that simple things go over your head,” Lance said, his voice muffled since his face was still hidden.

“You dick,” Keith said, shoving Lance’s shoulder playfully, and much to Lance’s happiness, a laugh spilled out of his mouth. 

“So what do y’all want?” the waitress asked, her voice a listless monotone and it made Lance want to ask her what did she want, like maybe a ride out of this depressing diner. 

Lance zoned out slightly as the girls ordered as he was too preoccupied watching Keith skim over the menu. He hadn’t even realized it was his turn to order until Pidge kicked him from across the table.

“Ow, what the he-, oh um, I’ll have the biggest stack of pancakes you got,” Lance said, catching himself when he realized he needed to order.

“Are you serving pie yet?” Keith asked, looking incredibly embarrassed to be asking such a question at seven in the morning.

“Sorry hun,” the waitress said, still somehow sounding bored despite the thick country accent that normally gave the person some kind of emotion in their voice, “Don’t make any pie ‘til noon.”

“Ah, yeah, should’ve figured that,” Keith muttered before saying, “I’ll take your big breakfast special with waffles and bacon.”

“How’d ya like your eggs?”

“Umm, scrambled?”

“Okay dears, it’ll be out shortly,” she said before turning around and shuffling over to the kitchen window.

“So Keith, Pidge, are you two excited about your alien convention?” Allura asked, taking a sip of her coffee while she waited for their answers.

“Yeah,” Keith shrugged.

“Hell yeah!” Pidge cried, pumping her arms in the air. “These next two days are going to be filled with conspiracy theories and grainy videos; it’s like a dream come true. Plus, Matt is going to be so pissed I didn’t tell him about it. Which is why I needed to find that roadside gift shop thing to find him something to appease him.”

“Man Pidge, do you think that shirt’s going to be enough?” Lance joked; Pidge just rolled her eyes and waved her hand at him, so he turned to Keith. “Make sure you take a ton of pictures for me.”

“I didn’t realize you were a closest alien fan Lance,” Keith said, a smirk forming on his face and Lance couldn’t help but feel his stomach get all light and fluttery at seeing Keith happy.

“Nah, I just want to see what weirdos like you enjoy,” Lance said, giving Keith his own smirk.

“I’m sure you’ll be disappointed,” Keith said, teasing in his voice.

Lance was about to make a snarky comeback when Allura practically squealed and pointed violently out the window.

“Look at the duck!”

“The what?” Pidge asked as she craned her neck to look around Allura.

The duck Allura was referring to was standing in the center of the parking lot and looked, weird. Its colors looked all off; they were either too dark or too bright. Its feathers looked all rumpled, like it had been through a big windstorm or a tornado, and its bill wasn’t the normal yellow color but looked more tangerine or mango or some weird orange-yellow hybrid. It just looked so incredibly…..weird.

“I didn’t realize that’s how ducks look,” Keith said, and when Lance looked back at him, he looked completely dumbstruck and Lance couldn’t help burst out laughing at that face.

“There must be something wrong with it,” Allura tried to say over Lance’s uncontrollable giggling. 

“I think it’s just a bit deformed, I mean, I don’t remember seeing any water since we’ve entered this state,” Pidge said, adjusting her glasses as she glared at the duck. “Maybe it looks like that due to a lack of aqueous habitat.”

“Oh yes Pidge,” Lance wheezed between laughs, “Impress us with your science knowledge!”

“Hey,” Pidge said, sending Lance a glare that stopped his laughter, “I wasn’t the one who pointed out the duck in the first place.”

“I noticed it by accident,” Allura said, gesturing at the duck. “The first thing I thought was ‘wow, what’s a duck doing so far from water,’ I was curious.”

“Just admit it Allura,” Pidge said, leaning closer to Allura, pausing for dramatic effect “You’re just a furry obsessed with ducks.”

“I hate you all,” Allura muttered, as all three of the others busted up laughing. Dropping her head in her hands she mumbled “Think about your future as a neurologist Allura, don’t risk that over killing your stupid friends.”  
~~~~

“Yessss,” Pidge hissed as they passed by the welcome sign for New Mexico. “Only a few more hours until I’ve arrived to my people.”

“What about us Pidge?” Lance asked, “Aren’t we your people?”

“What, you nerds?” Pidge teased despite her very serious tone. “I just need you all in case I need to conduct an experiment.”

“Rude,” Lance said as Keith started laugh. Allura was once again listening to her tapes, she had claimed she didn’t want to deal with them.

“Don’t act like you didn’t know Lance,” Pidge said, sticking her head in between the two front seats. “You’re like the third smartest in our group; it was only a matter of time before you realized the truth.”

“What about me?” Keith asked, “Am I too dumb to figure it out?”

“Nah Keith, you’re just a softy who wouldn’t want to accept the truth and would therefore ignore it,” Pidge said, shaking her head sadly before disappearing into the backseat. “So how much longer until we’re at that UFO restaurant?”

“About an hour,” Lance answered before asking Keith, “Do you even have any room for lunch after all that breakfast you ate?”

“I’m sure I’ll be able to eat some space themed food,” Keith said, sending Lance a small smile.

Lance shifted in his seat as an idea crossed his mind, it probably wasn’t the best idea considering that there were two other people in the car, but at the same time Lance could always just laugh it off as a joke to cheer Keith up despite his unusual sunny disposition so far that day.

“I’m not surprised that you’d be hungry though,” Lance said, looking at Keith from the corner of his eye to gauge his reaction.

“Oh, and why is that?” Keith asked, brow raised and mouth quirked.

“Well, you have been running through-“

“HOLY SHIT LOOK AT THAT DOG!!!!” Pidge screamed, just about shattering Lance’s and Keith’s eardrums and also breaking Allura from her studying trance.

“What the hell Pidge?” Keith cried while Lance tried to regain his bearings and straighten the car back out after his mini heart attack.

“Look at that fucking dog!” Pidge cried, pointing violently out her window, and with Keith apparently being the only one listening to Pidge he looked out the window to see the most amazing thing he had seen in all his life.

“Holy shit Lance, you need to look out your window now!”

“Keith, I’m kinda driving,” Lance pointed out only to have Keith place his hand on his shoulder and give him a very convincing argument.

“Lance, look out your fucking window, it will change your life.”

And who was Lance to argue with that, so he looked out the window and was graced by an image from god. Out that window was a dog with its head hanging out of a car window and placed over his eyes were a pair of bright red sunglasses.

“Holy shit,” Lance whispered before tearing his eyes away and turning his attention back to the road. 

“What’s going on?” Allura asked, taking off her headphones. Pidge simply pointed out the window. “Oh my god that is the cutest thing I’ve ever seen!” Allura gushed as she practically tried to climb over Pidge to get a better look.

“That is the cutest thing I’ve ever seen,” Lance said to Keith while Pidge tried to shove Allura off of her.

“I wouldn’t say it’s the cutest thing I’ve seen,” Keith said, flushing slightly, “But definitely in my top five.”

~~~~

“Are we here?” Pidge asked, practically catapulting herself into the front seat.

“For the first time during this trip I can say yes, yes we’re here,” Lance said as he pulled into the parking lot of the UDO, or Unidentified Diner Object, Lance had never said the name was humorous. It looked like two metal trailers pushed together with a flashing neon sign that depicted an alien space ship.

“Oh man this place looks so cool!” Pidge said, climbing over Keith and jumping out of the car.

Keith sent Lance what could only be described as a plea for help, and all Lance could do was shrug his shoulders as he watched Pidge elbow Keith in her attempts to get out of the car.

“So Keith,” Lance asked once they had been seated inside and had gotten their drinks, “Is it everything you imagined?”

Keith looked around at the walls decorated with alien decorations and posters, the tables shaped like UFOs and the bright orange and green booths before turning back to Lance with wide shining eyes. “This is the best place I’ve ever been.”

“Just remember that I was the one who brought you to this place,” Lance said placing his hand on his chest.

“Why, so you have something to hold over my head whenever you want something?” Keith asked, as he picked up the menu.

“I’m just saying, maybe you should help me out with a paper if I was the one to take you to the best place you’ve ever seen.”

“You better hope I never meet an actual alien,” Keith said as Allura laughed at his warning, or whatever exactly Keith was threatening.

"I must say this place is quite….tacky,” Allura said, tilting her head slightly as she looked around.

Pidge gasped. “How dare you insult the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen.”

“Pidge, haven’t you seen the Grand Canyon?” Allura asked only for Pidge to make some hissing noise.

“That is nothing compared to this place,” Pidge said before promptly picking up her menu and looking over the choices.

“Okay,” Allura said, turning to face Keith and Lance. “It would appear that Pidge would like to add this diner to one of the Seven Wonders of the World.”

“Why not, this place is amazing,” Lance said with a shrug before elbowing Keith, “And I think mullet here would agree.”

“I haven’t tasted the food yet, that’ll be the ultimate determining factor,” Keith said, glancing over at Lance before looking back at his menu.

“Guys, we’re getting an appetizer!” Pidge said before turning her menu around and pointing at one of the items. “Their onion rings are called Saturn rings, Lance I think you’ve taken me to heaven.”

“Good to know,” Lance said as he watched Pidge turn her menu back around and go back to looking at it all while bouncing in her seat.

“I feel like we’ve taken a six year old to a toy store or something,” Allura whispered, covering one side of her mouth with her hand as if it would stop Pidge from hearing.

“More like we’ve taken a four year old to Chucky Cheeses for the first time,” Lance said back, Pidge sent him a look but seemed more preoccupied by the menu.

“So what’ll you all be having to eat today?” the waitress asked, pulling a pen out from her bun.

Before anyone else could open their mouths Pidge pointed at the appetizers and said “An order of Saturn rings please.”

“Okay,” she said scribbling it down on the pad. “What else?”

“I’ll get a space junk salad, please,” Allura said while both Keith and Pidge scoured the menu to make sure they had seen everything.

“I’ll have an asteroid burger, please,” Lance said as he closed his menu and waited for their two resident alien enthusiasts to finally decide what they wanted.

“Can I get spaghetti and alien eyes, oh, and space rocks please,” Pidge said before handing over the menu. The waitress gave Pidge a look over as she wrote down the girl’s order.

“I’ll get a comet burger, please,” Keith said before the waitress gave them a nod and said they’d have their appetizer shortly.

“I can’t believe you ordered a salad,” Pidge said turning to Allura. “Of all the cool things on the menu, you ordered a salad.”

"This is coming from someone who ordered two meals,” Allura said, her eyebrow raised.

“I’m a growing girl,” Pidge said. “Even boring Keith ordered something different.”

“Well Lance said the burgers were good so I thought I’d try one,” Keith said with a shrug.

“You remember me telling you that?”

“Well yeah, I was beginning to think you were going to start waxing poetry about them,” Keith said, nudging Lance’s side.

“What can I say, this place can make a damn good burger,” Lance said with a shrug and a smile while Allura just shook her head.

“Pidge why won’t you give me a break, make fun of Keith or Lance, or something,” Allura sighed as she watched the two make eyes at each other.

“They’re too easy,” Pidge said, shaking her head as she took a sip of her cosmic cholate shake. “I like a challenge.”

“Oh trust me; they can be very challenging at times.”  
~~~~

“See you later losers,” Pidge said, giving them all a salute before jumping out the car and heading to the trunk to grab her bag.

“Have a great time at your nerd convention mullet,” Lance said, looking over at Keith who hadn’t gotten out of the car yet, nor was making any moves to.

“Why don’t you tell Pidge that?” Keith asked, a smirk forming on his face that made Lance’s heart speed up, but now was not the time for that.

“Um, because I value my life?” Lane answered as he watched Pidge make a beeline for the doors of the convention center. “Aren’t you going to follow her so she doesn’t get thrown in jail again?”

“Nah, I can’t,” Keith said, turning away from Lance and looking out the window. “I couldn’t get a ticket in time.”

“What, really man?” Lance asked, Keith had been so excited about this and now he was….stuck with Lance? Or maybe Allura? Lance wasn’t sure what Keith was going to do now that his spring break plans had been cancelled.

“Yeah, I had been hoping I could’ve bought one at the doors but, um, they had to be bought earlier this month,” Keith said, shrugging his shoulders.

“I’m sorry mullet, I know you were looking forward to your few days of conspiracy theories,” Lance said as he pulled out of the parking lot. They still had three hours until they reached Allura’s stop and after that it would take three more hours for Lance to make it home, it was looking like he wouldn’t be getting there until late at night.

“Nah, it’s no big deal,” Keith said, shrugging his shoulders again. “I’ll just have you drop me off somewhere in Arizona or something, I can try to find Area 51 like you suggested.”

“Keith I told you, not all of us know every piece of alien knowledge!” Lance said as he listened to both Keith and Allura laugh at him. “I’d like to hear you tell me where Area 51 is Allura!”

"It’s in Nevada, duh, who doesn’t know that?” Allura said.

“Alien knowledge is not common knowledge!”  
~~~~

They ended up stopping on the side of the road because Keith claimed that it was the perfect place to get some shots for his photography class. They had walked a little ways into the thinly wooded area and had found a nice looking clearing, there was a little stream running through and the chirping birds seemed to soothe all of Lance’s nerves.

Lance had plopped himself down on the grass as he watched Keith walk around with his phone in hand looking for a good shot.

“So,” Allura said, sitting down next to him, “How are you doing?”

“In general?” he asked right back as Keith paused and snapped a few pictures.

“No, I’m asking about you and Keith,” Allura said, waiting for Lance’s reaction from the corner of her eye.

“Why are you asking me about us?” Lance asked, hugging his knees to his chest. “Not much to talk about.”

“Not much to talk about?” Allura said, laughter on the edge of her voice. “Lance, you do realize your friends are not blind, well maybe Pidge was until she was told, but still, there’s something there.”

“Maybe from me, but sometimes I’m not so sure about Keith,” Lance sighed as he looked away at Allura and back at Keith. “It was hard to get to where we are now. When we first met he wouldn’t so much as let me touch him-“

“Keith was like that with everyone Lance, it was hard for him to trust. He wasn’t used to touchy-feely friends, but now he’s able to relax around us, especially around you. You’ve have to had noticed,” Allura said, something almost sad in her voice.

“I don’t know Allura, I like what we have right now, and I’m not sure that I want to change it, not yet at least,” Lance said, smilingly slightly as the light fell on Keith’s hair and gave him what looked to be an almost angelic image if only Lance didn’t know what Keith was really like.

“Do you want to be with him Lance? Do you love him?” Allura asked softly, placing her hand on his shoulder.

Lance felt his answer get caught in his throat. “Yeah,” he managed to say softly, before repeating himself even quieter, “Yeah.”

“I’m sure it’ll all work out in the end,” Allura said, squeezing Lance’s shoulder.  
~~~~

“Thanks again for driving me Lance,” Allura said as Lance pulled down a long, winding, dusty little road in the middle of nowhere. In the distance Lance could see what looked to be a house made of metal.

“No problem Allura, but um, what exactly is your uncle like?” Lance asked as he spotted some weird metal looking contraption behind the house that was half covered with a tarp.

“Oh well, he’s actually not my uncle really. He and my father were best friends before he passed, and he was the one who took me in. Even though I call him uncle, he’s more like a second father to me,” Allura said, a soft smile on her face. “He’s a little eccentric, but he’s lovely.”

“What, um, does he exactly do for a living?” Keith asked as his eyes raked over the area, something seemed a bit weird about everything.

“Oh, you’d love him Keith, he’s sort of a researcher and a mechanic in his spare time,” Allura said as Lance stopped in front of the house.

“What does he study all the way out her?” Lance asked, it looked like it was all desert and cactus.

“Aliens,” Allura said before getting out of the car leaving Keith and Lance silent.

“What!” Keith cried and Lance was honestly beginning to think Keith was going to find some way to stay with Allura for break to meet her uncle.

“Yep,” Allura said, sticking her head back into the car. “Though I wouldn’t say he’s looking for the same thing you are Keith.” Allura closed the door behind her, grabbed her bag and headed up the steps of the house while Lance and Keith followed her still slightly dumbstruck. A middle aged man with bright orange hair and a mustache answered the door. Allura gave him a hug before they disappeared inside.

“I wonder what that thing is he had out back?” Keith wondered out loud, as his eyes flashed with what Lance could only guess was a bad idea.

“Uh, nope Keith, we are not playing alien investigators,” Lance said as he pulled the car away before Keith could jump out and invade the man’s privacy.

“You heard what Allura said, he isn’t studying the same thing I am! What does that mean?”

“I don’t know, and we’re not going to find out,” Lance said as the little metal house and all its mysteries disappeared from his rear view mirror until he was left with a grumpy Keith.  
~~~~

“You can just drop me off at any town before yours,” Keith said suddenly, interrupting the lovely conversation he and Lance had been having about which one would be the best astronaut, obviously Lance which Keith was about to understand until he had interrupted Lance’s watertight argument.

“What? No way mullet, you’re coming home with me,” Lance said, giving Keith a worried look, maybe the whole dad thing was still bothering him and Lance just hadn’t noticed.

“No, I wouldn’t want to intrude.” Keith shook his head as he watched Lance for his reaction. “You’re always talking about how excited you are to see your family. I wouldn’t want to bother you with me.”

“Keith you wouldn’t be a bother, besides my mama always wants me to bring friends home, her motto is the more the merrier,” Lance said. “Besides, we just passed the last town before my stop, so it looks like you’re stuck with me.”

“Lance really, you don’t need to take pity on me-“

“I’m not taking pity on you, contrary to what you might believe I really do enjoy spending time with you mullet, a few extra days isn’t going to bother me,” Lance said, feeling his heart speed up after he had finished his little confession.

“Lance-“ Keith began before he was cut off by a horrible sputtering, a jerk of the car followed by a trail of smoke coming from under the hood of the car.

“Shit, shit, shit,” Lance muttered as he pulled over to the side of the road. Throwing his door open he trudged over to the hood and threw it open only to be hit in the face with smoke.

Fanning out of his face he heard Keith’s door open. “Let me check it out.”

Keith was by his side in a second looking at what Lance could only guess was the engine, he was now really wishing he had listened to Hunk all those times he tried to teach him something about mechanics.

“I think you might have some wires burning, but whatever the problem is it’s electrical so I don’t think we’ll be able to drive this car unless we’re only five minutes from your house,” Keith said, wiping his hands on his jeans.

“We’re like, a half an hour from my house,” Lance said running his fingers through his hair. “Shit.”

“Looks like we’re going to need a ride,” Keith said halfheartedly as he watched Lance sink to the ground and lean against the front of the car.

“Yeah, guess I’ll call my brother to come pick us up,” Lance said, pulling his phone out of his pocket and dialing his brother’s number. The phone rang for a few seconds before his brother finally picked up. 

“Hey Danny, yeah, yeah,” Lance said shaking his head weakly along with all his brother’s questions. “Listen, I need to ask you a favor, yeah, um, I need you to come up and pick my friend and me up. We’re kinda broke down on the highway about a half an hour out.” Lance nodded his head as he listened to his brother go on and on about how it was high time he got rid of his car. “Yeah, yeah, you can tell me all about it on the rid back.” Ending the call, he looked over at Keith who had sat down beside him during the call.

“You doing okay Lance?” Keith asked.

“Yeah, yeah I’m doing just swanky,” Lance muttered as he watched the sky change into a dark blue, it was going to be dark soon.

“You’re saying words so old that I don’t even use them,” Keith said, rolling his eyes. “What’s wrong?”

“I just-just feel liked I fucked up your break,” Lance said, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath as he waited for Keith’s reactions.

“What the hell? Why would you think that?” Keith asked, brow furrowed.

“Well, I mean, you found out that your dad is getting married and he didn’t even bother to tell you that he was even in a relationship-“

“So what? Fuck my dad,” Keith spit, before his tone soften slightly. “It’s not like I blame you for my dad being a dick. Yeah I was pissed that he didn’t bother to tell me he was getting married or that he was even in a relationship to begin with, but you know what, it was good for me because now I know not to feel guilty about not making any effort in our relationship because he apparently doesn’t give a shit either.”

“I mean, we’re also broke down on the side of the road in some desert-“

“So,” Keith said, confusion etched on his face, “It’s not like you can control what the universe decides to do, besides, it’s a problem that can easily be fixed. Why would I be pissed off about that?”

“Well-well you weren’t able to get into that convention-“ Lance said, feeling a sense of desperation come over him as he tried to explain to Keith how this was obviously all his fault when he felt a warm hand fall on his shoulder.

“Lance, that isn’t your fault either,” Keith said, his eyes and voice both soft. He took a deep breath. “Lance, I lied to you. I could’ve gone to that convention; I could’ve got a ticket at the door.”

“Wait, what?” Lance asked, now he was the one confused.

“I could’ve gone to that alien convention but I decided not to because I was having a great time just hanging out with you. So I lied to spend just a few more hours talking to you. I had planned to get out at some random town until you offered to let me stay with you,” Keith said, there was something in his eyes that Lance had never seen before.

“You skipped out on something you would’ve had the time of your life at…to spend more time with me?” Lance asked, feeling his heart clench.

“Yeah,” Keith said, looking incredibly embarrassed now. “I really like you Lance, I like spending time with you.”

“I feel the same,” Lance said, feeling his cheeks heat up, he couldn’t honestly believe that they he was confessing his feelings to Keith in the middle of the desert after his car broke down, but beggars can’t be choosers apparently. “I like you a lot too.”

“Wh-when I say I like you,” Keith stuttered, his entire face red now, “I mean like, like like you. Like I want to hold your hand and take you out for diner or some shit.”

“I like like you too Keith,” Lance said, letting out a laugh that sounded louder than usual. “And I must say, you really know your way with words.”

“Sh-shut up you idiot,” Keith sputtered as a wide grin spread across Lance’s face.

“Make me,” Lance dared, and god he didn’t actually expect that to work.

Keith pressed his mouth against Lance’s in a very messy first kiss, but it was amazing. Lance felt his entire body warm up down to his fingertips despite the chill in the desert air, he felt like his entire body was on fire as Keith pressed his chapped lips against Lance’s softly. Lance was going to be honest, he had expected Keith to be a rough kisser considering his disposition. But as Keith cradled Lance’s face ever so softly, Lance was wiping clean his previous Keith beliefs.

“Are you gonna be quiet now?” Keith asked as he pulled away from the kiss.

“Hmm,” Lance pretended to ponder as he pressed his forehead against Keith’s. “No I don’t think so, I think I need some more kisses.”

“I think that can be arranged,” Keith said as he met Lance’s lips again. Sometime between their kisses Keith asked against Lance’s lips, “So does this mean we’re dating now?”

“Sure lover boy,” Lance said, pressing his lips back against Keith, it was like he was starving for this. “I guess I’m going to be bringing home my boyfriend for break.”

“I like the sound of that,” Keith said before shutting Lance up before he could say anything too mushy.


End file.
